The federal government still hasn’t responded to a Senate inquiry into climate and energy misinformation, more than four months after its deadline passed.
🏛️ The inquiry: The Senate Select Committee on Information Integrity on Climate Change and Energy tabled its report, The Integrity Gap, on March 24.
The committee heard concerns about astroturfing, where campaigns presented as grassroots are highly coordinated and well financed, often with links to think tanks, business interests, lobby groups or donors.
Former Greens senator Peter Whish-Wilson, who chaired the committee, said deceptive campaigns “have stalled climate action, including the rollout of renewable energy in Australia”.
Labor senators backed the committee’s majority report, which found misinformation was “delaying renewable energy projects”. The government wants 82 percent of Australia’s electricity to come from renewables by 2030.
Its 21 recommendations include exploring ways to make corporate-funded campaign activity more transparent before federal elections, and making sure regulators such as the Australian Securities and Investments Commission have the resources to tackle greenwashing - a term used for companies that exaggerate their environmental credentials.
⏰ The deadline: The Senate expects government responses within three months of a report being tabled, which made this one due on June 24.
📋 Not a one-off: In the first half of 2026, 33 committee reports reached their three-month deadline, and the government responded on time to five, according to the President of the Senate’s twice-yearly report.
By June 30, 80 reports were overdue.
When asked if he agreed with the recommendations of the report, a spokesperson for the Minister for Climate Change and Energy, Chris Bowen, said: “It would not be appropriate for the department to pre-empt the whole of the government response.”
Watch the National Account’s Archie Milligan below: